Album , Gig

Ricky Ross: Trouble Came Looking / Live

"It's been an interesting week to launch an album of stories based on the current economic climate," said Ricky Ross towards the start of tonight's gig at the Union Chapel. "I can't help but feel we've been he before," he continued, before laying at least some of the blame at the policies of the recently buried Tory leader.

Ricky Ross has always had a political angle, with most of his works revolving around faith, home and work. His new album "Trouble Came Looking" focuses heavily on the last of these.

Telling stories that are often missed in the striver/shirker dichotomy that media has fallen into of late, Ross begins to sound like a Scottish Woody Guthrie, with a bit of Bruce Cockburn thrown in for good measure.

Trouble Came Looking is an insightful record. It's not particularly deep in meaning, but the voices that it amplifies are well worth listening to: the newly redundant, struggling to make ends meet; the boss trying to keep his business running. We even hear from Morecambe Bay cockle pickers. It could make for depressing material, but through all the songs runs a silver strand of humanity and hope.

As for the concert, it was tremendous. Drawing from his own solo albums, along with some vintage Deacon Blue material, the thread of workers' tales was unbroken back to Ross's earliest days. And to round it all off, this Dundonian paid homage to another, finishing with a cover of the late Michael Marra's paeon to the hardworking but harmless Scot, "Hermless". A wonderful night, and important album.